As Syrian refugees top 3M mark, UN faces biggest operation in its history

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In this photo provided by the United Nations, the U.N. Kyung-wha Kang, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefs the U.N. Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014, at U.N. Headquarters.

As Syrian refugees top 3M mark, UN faces biggest operation in its history
By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press
August 29, 2014 Updated 20 minutes ago

GENEVA — The civil war in Syria has forced 3 million people out of the country as more than a million people fled in the past year, creating a crisis that the U.N. refugee agency said requires the biggest operation in its 64-year history.

The tragic milestone means that about one of every eight Syrians has fled across the border, and 6.5 million others have been displaced within Syria since the conflict began in March 2011, the Geneva-based agency said. More than half of all those uprooted are children, it said.

Syria had a prewar population of 23 million.

“The Syria crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era, yet the world is failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.